Dinner was about as uneventful as can be considering who was attending, and after Temari and Kankuro left, Naruto and Gaara did the dishes and went out onto the roof. Gaara was sitting up while Naruto was lying down looking at the stars. "Hey Nii-san, what do you think the teams will be?"

"Well if they're smart, they'll put the two of us together. As for the third person, because of Shukaku, it will probably be one of the orphans, or Temari as everyone else's parents will panic if their kid's placed on your team, more so if we're together. No matter who they place as the third member, we'll just have to show them we're not what everyone makes us out to be, however that's easier said than done. I think I'm going to hit the hay, wake me should anything happen, or an hour before class."

"I will, good night Nii-san."

"Good night Otouto." He saw Gaara smile before he closed his eyes and drove into the depths of his mind. When he reopened his eyes he found himself before the gate and there was the sound of movement within the darkness. "I see you are finally awake, I have been waiting for you to be for the past seven years."

Two large red eyes appeared behind the bars. "What's going on? Where am I? Who are you?" Naruto three tails swayed behind him, bringing them to the notice of Kyuubi. "You are a kitsune? No, your scent is that of a hanyo. Release me and I shall reward you, and your kitsune parent."

"I cannot do that. If I did, there'd be no telling what would happen to me. You see, you're not imprisoned just anywhere, you are sealed within me. I'm like this because of you."

Kyuubi growled. "Jinchuuriki, the only thing lower than a hanyo. Your kind are nothing more than a parasite, relaying on strength not your own to survive. That blonde bastard and that the damn overgrown frog will pay for doing this to me!"

"I know this may sound strange, but are you male or female? People normally refer to you as either he or it, as most do not consider females capable to destruction on the level you've been known for. I however know from experience that they can, due to both Temari when she's angry, and stories of what my mother has done in her time, in addition to the fact that I've read kitsune tend to take a female shape to trick humans."

"How dare you write off what I've said and ask the Great Kyuubi no Kitsune her gender?!"

Naruto had a bored look on his face as he stared up into the demon's eyes unflinching. "So female then?" There was silence for a moment and then light grumbling about 'damned blondes'. "You know unless you want people to think you're a male, you should lose that overly masculine voice. And as for that statement of relying on your power to survive, the only thing your yokai does for me is healing, and keeps me from getting sick. I haven't needed your power in almost seven years, and I've been suppressing it as much as possible since I learned of my family's abilities. I assume that these tails represent how much of your yokai my body is able to handle."

This was followed by laughter from within the cell. "So that is why you are my prison. You are of his blood, the only human who had the power to defeat me fairly, though your ability in his art is impressive for one so young, especially since you do not have his amplifier."

"I also came to that conclusion when I learned of my family. And thank you for the compliment, I've had a lot of practice suppressing Shukaku so Otouto is able to sleep."

"Your Otouto is a Jinchuuriki as well?"

"Brother in all but blood. I doubt you care, but we are no longer in the village my great-grandfather built, and as for the Yondaime, that blonde bastard you mentioned, he died shortly after your sealing. As the price for sealing you, the Shinigami ate his soul, or at least that's what I was told. As for Jinchuuriki being parasites, keep in mind that you live within my body and need me to live, cause if I die so do you."

"I'm not here by choice!"

Naruto's tail whipped angrily through the air behind him. "You think I would have chosen this if I had a choice?!"

Kyuubi cocked an eyebrow. "You wouldn't huh? That would mean you never came here, or met your Otouto, not to mention not have nearly as much power as you do."

Naruto sighed. "I'll admit that I wouldn't want to have not come to Suna and met Gaara, even though I may have gotten to grow up knowing my Kaa-san, but power doesn't mean everything. I mean look at you, your suppose to be the most powerful being this world has ever seen, a walking natural disaster, and you were taken down by one mortal man."

Kyuubi growled. "He had help, that damnable toad, you, and most importantly the Shinigami itself. Without the Shinigami's help the village would have been destroyed."

"You were really going to destroy the whole village just because my Great-grandfather suppressed your yokai to protect his people?"

"What? No. I was just going to play a trick on him, you said it yourself, we kitsune love tricking humans, I probably was going to transformed into my human form and send him flying." Both chuckled as they imagined the scene. "No the whole destroying the village thing was all Madara's idea. I told him to piss off, but he used the highest form of the Sharingan on me. Never should have evolved his eyes from the unstable mix of the Rinnegan and Byakugan he was born with, ungrateful bastard."

"So the highest form has the power to manipulate even you, I'll have to be careful if I ever run into an Uchiha with all three tomes."

Kyuubi started laughing. "You thought I was talking about that pathetic stage? While it may be powerful against humans, it is pitiful against one such as myself, no there are two stages beyond that, but the price is more than most are willing to pay. I'm not normally as bad as everyone makes me out to be, but I've been prone to have sadistic fits from time to time, and when I evolved his eyes happened to be one of those times. To get the first of the two stages, the Mangekyo Sharingan, one must kill their closest friend, thus enabling them to use the black flames of Amaterasu, which are hotter than the sun and burn for seven days and nights. It also give them a powerful genjutsu called Tsukuyomi, which can be used for all sorts of things, the least of which includes torture, were the user is in complete control of everything, even time making it so three days can pass in the span of a second. The problem with this stage is that with every use, the user's eyesight deteriorates eventually making them blind. The final stage is the Fukyuu Mangekyo Sharingan. In addition to the powers of the other stages, it allows the user to transport his/her soul and eyes to a new vessel, making them basically immortal, hence the name, but if the person whose body their trying to take has a stronger will, they will remain in control of their body and could probably use the Sharingan themselves. Should they get this stage, their eyesight will no longer fade, but to do so, they have to take the Mangekyo eyes from a sibling, only Madara has ever reached this stage."

"So you're talking about the Madara Uchiha that helped found Konoha, he's still alive?" He got a nod from the fox. "Well then, they have to change the history books, because they say he was killed be the Shodaime Hokage at Shuumatsu no Tani."

"He destroyed the body, but the soul escaped into a new host. Madara is by every definition a parasite, moving from host to host, taking their strengths and then moving on when they're no longer of use."

"Would he be able to take over my body like that?"

"No, my yokai prevents that power from working on me and by extension you. It was the only counter to the eyes that I created as I thought someone may try to use it to gain my powers, but I underestimated the power I granted to the other abilities. So why is it you are no longer in the village your ancestor made?"

"Well, almost everyone thought I was you in human form and tried to kill me, and that was before I started growing these furry appendages." He waved his hand at his tails. "Not to mention the daily 'fox-hunts', and that they told my mother I died soon after birth so she doesn't know I exist."

"But why come to Shukaku's territory? Why leave mine unprotected when you could have ruled over it yourself? Without someone there to fight for it, any demon can claim it as their own."

"The main reason I came here was Gaara. When his uncle first asked if I wanted to come here, I said no and was about to leave when he told me what Gaara contained. I knew that even with his uncle, his life was going to be one hardship after another, and that I had to come and make sure his life didn't become as hard as mine, but in case it did, I would become strong enough to get him away from here. Even if I had stayed there, I wouldn't be a match for a demon, besides it wouldn't surprise me if most, if not all, of the other Bijuu were sealed after you and Shukaku were to balance the table of power between villages."

"The Bijuu are just the strongest of the demon clan leaders Kit, and there are hundreds of thousands of each kind of demon, hundreds of species, and any demon can challenge another. When your ancestor suppressed my yokai, I was fighting a Nibi-Uma that was pissed my forest grew outward expanding my territory and shrinking his."

"That's more or less what the scroll I got said. I have only one more question I wish to ask, and then I'll leave if you want me to. Am I still human?"

"I don't how to answer as I don't know myself, you're appearance and scent suggest you're a Hanyo, but it doesn't appear as through you produce your own yokai like one would."

Naruto nodded. "I understand. Would you like for me to leave, because I will if you want me to."

"You are a strange one Kit, this is your mind yet you ask me if I want you to leave."

"While it is my mind, you also reside here, and since we're going to be together for the foreseeable future, we should try to get along, or at the very least not want to kill each other." Naruto smiled when he heard her chuckle.

"Then please stay, if we are to get along, we will need to know about each other." The two large eyes disappeared and a humanoid silhouette appeared and was moving towards the gate. When she reached the gate, Naruto's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Her dark red hair was pulled into a high ponytail except for two locks that framed her face and fell onto her shoulder. Her bangs covered her forehead, but weren't long enough to fall into her eyes. Her eyes were red with slits for pupils and she had red lipstick on her full lips. She wore a tight brownish-red top that went from the neck don at an angle to just above the bottom of the rib cage, were it wrapped around the back. At the bottom of her top, was dark brown leather with gold trim that wrapped around from the back at a downward angle and came to a point that slightly over lapped her short orange skirt that reach close to mid-thigh and was split halfway up both sides. She had brown leather high-heeled boots that reached mid thigh and were stitched up the outer sides with orange pull straps at the top. On her arms, she had gold bands around both biceps, and cuffs made of the same material as the bottom of her top with a gold button holding each closed. Around her neck she had a gold plate on two gold cords that had something written on it that Naruto could see, and let's not forget the nine red tails swishing behind her, or the two red fox ears peeking out of her hair. "Hm, that's strange, I was positive you were going to go flying from a geyser of blood from your nose. Oh well, that just means I don't have to waste time waiting for you to wake up. My name's Karin." (Karin for Shadow Hearts: Covenant- Not mine either)

Naruto snapped himself out of his shock almost as soon as she started talking again. "Naruto." They spent the rest of the night talking until Gaara woke Naruto up for team placements. They walked into the classroom in their normal attire, with the addition of their hitai-ates, and a small black bag tied by its draw stings to Naruto's sash. Gaara's hitai-ate was tied around the strap of his gourd, while Naruto's was tied securely around his left bicep. They sat by Temari in the back, who had her fan leaning against the wall and hitai-ate around her neck. Gaara put his gourd up against the wall as Naruto greeted Temari. "Morning Temari."

"Morning guys. I can't wait to find out who my teammates are."

"Who knows, the three of us may get lucky and get put on the same team."

"Maybe. So did you bring those daggers of yours?"

"Yeah, but I have them sealed cause I'm not sure how to carry them, or even how to use them yet. Not much point of using a weapon till I'm familiar with it, otherwise it could get me killed." Gaara was silent while they were talking, but nudged Naruto when the instructor walked into the room with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Alright class, I want to once again congratulate you on becoming Genin and say that from here on it only gets harder. Now, I'm going to name off the team members, followed by the Jonin sensei for that team, and then where they've asked you to meet them. You should leave immediately once you team's been announced so as not to keep your new sensei waiting. I'm only going to say the teams once, so pay attention. Now Team One will be Gaara Sabaku, Naruto Uzumaki, and Temari Sabaku. Your jonin sensei will be Baki. He'll meet you at Training Ground Nine." (I'm too lazy to think up names for the other teams, especially when the only teams that are going to be mentioned again are this one and Kankuro's.)

The training ground was bare of anything but dunes of sand and a man in a jonin uniform, his hitai-ate attached to a cloth that was wrapped around the top of his head and used to cover the left side of his face and two red marks just under his right eye. He waited till they were all standing in front of him before specking. "Alright, I'm sure you already know my name, but I'll say it anyway, it's Baki. You will refer to me as sensei or sir. I know you're names, and I'm sure you know each other so I'm going to skip the introduction and just get down to business. It is up to the jonin sensei to determine whether or not the team assigned to them actually becomes genin, if they decide not, those three are sent back to the academy or dropped from the program completely." He paused for a moment to gauge their reaction and smirked when he saw they didn't give one. "Each Jonin has their own method for doing this, mine is relatively simple. I will test your abilities in a one-on-one fight and to see if you are prepared to be genin. After I test all three of you, should one or more of you not be ready, you will all be sent back, though if those that did impressed me enough I may recommend them for apprenticeship. Any questions?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Sir if we are a team, shouldn't we be tested as one?"

"It is true that teamwork is important, but unlike what our ally Konoha believes, I know that it not something that you can expect from a newly formed group, it takes time. That is what the D-rank missions are for, time to make a squad into a team before they're given harder and more dangerous missions. Now that that's out of the way, who would like to go first?" Gaara took a few steps forward and stopped. Temari opened her fan seeing this, hopping on to it and allowing Naruto on as well before rising into the sky to watch. Gaara stood there with his arms crossed and staring Baki down.

The jonin shot forward, never taking his eyes off of Gaara even as he zigzagged between sand pillars that shot from the ground. When he finally did reach Gaara, he swung his left hand, only for it to impact a wall of sand. Before he could move, the sand that made up the wall shift and lashed out at him, wrapping him in a sand cocoon. Gaara frowned before closing his outstretched hand, causing the cocoon to implode and fall back to the ground. Up on the fan Temari couldn't believe her eyes, Gaara had just killed their sensei. Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder, but did take his eyes off the area below them. "Temari, there's no need to worry, the Baki Gaara crushed was only a clone, somehow he always seems to know the difference."

As Naruto spoke, Baki shot out of the sand behind Gaara and threw several shuriken at the boy's back, only for them to be intercept by a sand wall as well. When it fell, Gaara stood there looking at him, but his arms were down at his sides and from the elbow down, they looked like Shukaku's arms. The sand user shot towards the jonin and began to send blow after blow at him with the demonic limbs. Even through blocking wasn't effective, Baki was unable to mount a counter attack because as soon as he attempted to do so, a wall of sand would shoot up between him and his student, and he was prevented from escaping the close range combat by Gaara's speed. After a few minutes of the jonin's guard being pummeled, he was able to put enough distance between them to pull off Kawarimi. The strike that had been intended for him had enough force to shatter the rock he had used as a replacement. As the red head was about to charge again, Baki held up his hand, signaling Gaara to stop, and it being safe for the blondes to land. "You performed excellently Gaara, and your Taijutsu was better than I had expected it to be given your Suna no Tate." He turned to the approaching blondes. "Now who will be next?"

Naruto took a step back and held out his hand towards the jonin while looking at Temari with a smile. "Ladies first."

A smirk appeared on Temari's lips. "I'd normally kick your ass for a comment like that, but I think I'll let it slide this time given the situation."

Naruto leapt back to where Gaara had moved to and started making hand signs while Gaara held out his right hand and had his left middle and index fingers up to his eye. The sand rose from the ground and formed a sphere bigger than his palm hovering over his outstretched hand and took the form of an eye before it rose into the sky. When Naruto's string of seals was completed, he slammed his hand against the ground. "Mokuton: Moku Joheki." Beams of wood shot from the earth and formed a dome over the boys. With his work done he sat next to Gaara, who placed his right middle and index fingers up to the blonde's eye. Naruto's open eye widen with shock. "I didn't know you could share the sight of yourDaisan no Me."

"I have to have something to busy me while you sleep. Testing it was more trouble than I thought it would be though."

Temari stood before Baki with her fan held behind her back open, her right hand on the butt of the weapon, and her left holding the thick paper-like material. As soon as he said go, Temari released the fan with her left hand and, using the momentum, made a backhanded swing releasing a number of large blades made of wind. "Fuuton: Kamaitachi no Jutsu." Baki looked at the blades without expression and swiped his hand through the air, making blades of his own, though smaller in size and number. Temari smirked when she saw just, but was surprised when the smaller blades cut through her own and continued towards her. She quickly rushed through handsigns and replaced herself with Baki just as the first of the blades reached her. Upon appearing however, she saw the Baki she had replaced with crumble into sand after being hit just before she was sent to the ground curtiousy of Baki fist.

Snapping her fan closed, Temari swung it at the jonin's side, only for it to be caught and her to be sent to the ground again, but with out her fan. "I believe I've seen enough." Baki put the fan over his shoulder as he walked over the Temari and handed her back the fan. "Your senseis claim you have a stratisic mind, but from what I've just seen, if your plan fails, you fail to think of another. You also rely too heavily on long range ninjutsu, neglecting genjutsu and taijutsu, made apparent by the fact that when forced into close courters, you used your large fan instead of your fist which had a higher probablity of connecting. Your chakra reserves are larger than most girls your age, and your Fuuton jutsu was impressive given you used regular chakra, but that does not mean you should slack off in the other areas of training." She nodded looking down cast and started towards Gaara as Naruto came towards Baki.

Naruto stopped as pasted Temari. "You fought well Temari, even if you did lose, he is a jonin after all. Just remember, now that you know where you're lacking, you can overcome it." She turned back to look at him and found he had put over five feet between them already. She smiled at he back and continued towards Gaara. When she got there, he filled the hole in Naruto's wood dome with sand and placed his fingers at Temari's eye like he had Naruto.

Naruto stopped ten feet from Baki, his right hand closed into a loose fist while his left was open, the bag on his hip slightly open. "Your senseis and even Kazekage-sama say not to underestimate you, at first I had assumed it was because of your demon, but if what I've read in your file is correct, this match will be the most interesting one I've had in a while." He slid his left foot forward a little and brought his hands up to neck level in fists, his left held further from his body than his right, and as soon as he said go, Baki disappeared. Naruto stood there, his body unmoving, then his ears twitched and he ducked, allowing a kick to pass over his head, and swung his left arm out, hitting Baki in the leg he had planted. The hit cause the leg to join the other in the air and Baki's body was almost horizontial in the air for a few seconds before Naruto nailed him just above the groin with his right hand. As Baki hit the ground, Naruto kicked him in the side sending him flying back a little ways.

Naruto used this time to make five seals. "Gogyou Kitsune no Jutsu." Within seconds, five knee high elemental foxes stood in front of the blonde. "Go." The foxes charged toward the jonin while Naruto made another seal. His face and body began to deform and bumps appeared all over him before wood came out of his sides and form two copies of him. "Mokuton: Moku Bunshin. Keep him busy." The two clones nodded and charged after the foxes while the real Naruto held his right hand up in front of his face and held the elbow with his left hand.

The lightning fox was the first to reach the jonin, and with its speed sank it teeth into his leg, and sent electricity into his body, but like with Temari, Baki crumbled into sand, burying it. The other foxes arrived together as the bunshin collapsed and the earth fox was hit by a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it, which went it exploded also caused the water fox to be dispelled. The wind fox charged the newly found jonin, but instead of attacking him, it ran past, its tail passing close to him. As it ran past, he felt a sharp pain run through his leg, and found there a cut in his pants and blood trickling down his leg from a thin cut. While he was distracted, the fire fox jumped on to his back, burning the back of his vest in several places, before biting down on his shoulder. Baki yelled in pain as he reached over his shoulder, grabbed the fox and threw it to the ground, burning his hands in the process. Naruto's clones arrived as it hit the ground and one attempted to implant his fist in Baki's gut, but the jonin dodge it and blocked a follow up kick from the other. Baki sent a kick to the first clone's stomach and knocked him towards where the fire fox was getting back up. The second clone threw his fist towards Baki's head, and was cut in half by an unseen force, and Baki stood as though he had swung a sword. The wind fox took that moment to run at Baki again, but the jonin saw it coming and replace himself with the remaining clone, who was literally cut down as the fox ran between its legs.

Instead of stopping though, it kept running full speed and was met by the fire fox. Both collided and in the end only the fire fox remained, but it was twice it orginal size and now had two tails instead of one. Baki eyed the fox, it now stood up to his waist and the fire was no lorger contained, it still held the shape, but the flames were burning out of control. He also saw that the sand underneath and around its feet had turned to glass. He saw it dart, and jumped to the left thinking it was coming at him, instead he found that it had run in a semi-circle and placed itself between him and Naruto, who he noticed was preparing something new and the jonin smirked. 'Very interesting indeed.' He looked back at the fox, who seemed content to stay where it was wait its master finished whatever he was doing. Baki took out another kunai and wrapped a explosive tag around the handle before throwing it at the fox. Said fox didn't move as it came closer and when it connected, the kunai melted and the tag burned before the chakra in it could get past the fuse. Baki cursed and looked back at Naruto, thankful whatever he was doing took so long. The fox sprang forward, creating more disks of glass as it did and tried to plow into Baki, but the jonin was able to dodge, though the heat he felt from it was blistering, even after a lifetime of living in the desert. What he hadn't expect however was for one of the tails to whip out at him and slam into his gut. He was knocked off his feet and set the front of his vest on fire. He quickly discarded the vest after getting back to his feet and found the fox to be getting smaller at an axcelerate rate. He let out a relieved sigh as the fox burned itself out. However he beath caught at the sound that rivaled every sandstorm he had ever heard coming from the direction of his student. He found the blonde running towards him with his right fist reeled back, wind circling around most of his forearm at such a velocity that the jonin was surprised that it remain intact.

Even over the sound of the blonde's attack, he heard the name being shouted. "Gufuu Te no Jutsu!" At thirty feet, the blonde threw his hand forward and the spirling wind extended from his hand, expanding outwards as it shot towards the jonin, picking up sand as it went making it more dangerous. Baki went to try and get out of the way of the jutsu, but he felt something moving beneath his pants. He looked down to find that thick roots were emerging out of his pant legs and binding his legs together and then stuck into the ground. While this was happening, more came out of his waist band and shot upwards to bind his hands to his sides. His eyes widened as he remember the hit to his stomach near the beginning of the match. He smiled just before the wind slammed into him, the wind and sand cutting into his exposed body while the roots that had stuck into the ground kept him from being blown away. When the attack ended, he found himself frowning at the lack of power it held from what appeared to be a devastating attack. His students rushed to him as the roots released him and the seed fell to the ground. Baki grabbed the seed and glared at Naruto, who smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that sensei, but I had to make sure you didn't try to get out of the way, or releasing it so far away would have been pointless." Baki's glare was lessened and replaced ewith curiousity. "I released it early so the wind wasn't strong enough to seriously hurt you, but even still, the closer you get to the side of the attack, the more powerful the wind is."

Baki thought back to when he was hit by it and though his face remained passive, inside he was shuddering just imaging the power from its intended range. "It is a impressive jutsu, however I noticed it took you quite some time to prepare it, making it difficult to use in battle." Temari give him an 'I told you so' look. "However I believe with help it could become easier. Your taijustu, at least what I saw from your clones is sloppy, but you have excellent reflexes, your foxes, given more training, could become exceedingly dangerous to your opponents and what I read in your file seems to be accurate as well." He looked at the seed and than at Naruto, looking him up and down before his eyes rested on the bag. "Am I right to assume that is where you keep your seeds for your Mokuton jutsu?" Naruto nodded. "I see, I would suggest finding another way to carry them as it will be too difficult to get into in the heat of battle." 'Which is probably why he didn't use them much in this match.' The blonde boy nodded and Baki smiled. "Good, now I'm pleased to announce that you all pass, from now on we'll be spending the mornings doing missions and afternoons training. Meet at the Kazekage building at seven tomorrow morning. If that is all, you're dismissed." Sand whirled around Gaara and Temari was shrouded in smoke and both were gone, but Naruto remained. "What is it Naruto?"

Baki held himself back from laughing and smiled. "It said you're cunning, able to come up with amazing plans of the fly, your jutsu, while small in number and used in unorthodox manners, produce surprisingly excellent results, that you have an analytic mind, and you have several characteristics needed for a leadership role." Baki got a thoughtful expression on her face before looking Naruto dead in the eyes. "Naruto would you be willing to teach me Gufuu Te?"

"I can try, but even if you do learn it, there's a chance you might not be able to use it to its full potential due to the amount of chakra needed. I can use it five times before having to rest, but because I'm a Jinchuuriki I have more chakra than most people."